Isabella Meyer
1. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
2. World State, used to be called London, five hundred year from now.
3. Lenina Crowne- main female character. Lenina is the women who goes with Bernard Marx to the Savage reservation.
Bernard Marx- outcast of the Alpha class. Takes Lenina to the Savage reservation. Bernard doesn't agree with all the ways of World State.
The Director Of Hatcheries and Conditioning- a.k.a D.H.C. Runs away after Linda returns to World State with Bernard Marx, Lenina, and her son John the Savage.
Linda- an ex-member of World State after she was left behind by D.H.C., she had a son, which is a horrible thing in World State, he happens to be the D.H.C's son as well. eventually dies.
John The Savage- son of Linda and D.H.C. becomes a star in World State when he returns. loves Lenina. Hates World State because of how shallow it is.
Mustapha Mond- This man decides what is good for society and what isn't. He also knows more about life before "his Fordship" than almost anyone. Exiles Bernard and Hemholtz
Hemholtz Watson- Friend of Bernard, and liked by John. Interested in Shakespeare for his knowledge in Emotions. Exiled with Bernard for thinking differently then the rest of World State.
4. The Novel starts out with D.H.C. describing the Hatchery, Decanting and Boskonofsky processes to Alpha students. The boys are taking avid notes on everything the Director says. Introduced next is Mustapha Mond, who seems to be magical to the students, they hang onto every word he says. Next is Lenina and her friend Fanny. Readers are then introduced to Bernard Marx. This man is not like most alphas; he is queer. He is shorter and uglier than most Alphas, looks more like a Delta than an Alpha, or even a Beta. Everyone thinks that during the Decanting process too much alcohol was put into his bottle in order to make him a little bit slower and less attractive than other Alphas. Lenina tells Fanny of her "relationship" of sorts (of course only a sexual relationship as apposed to an emotional one) which has been going on for a few months. Fanny tells Lenina that that relationship is wrong, and should stop instantaneously. Taking Fanny's advise, Lenina asks Bernard out on a date, and ends up taking Soma which is their legal drug. Lenina wants to have sex immediately, but Bernard says they shouldn't have sex on the first date.
The society of World state is very promiscuous. They have sex with many different partners and discuss it with everyone. The have a Legal intoxicating Drug that is used in Promotional purposes, for sex. There are regular Orgy-Porgy's where a large group of people take Soma, Praise their god Henry Ford, and Have an orgy.
Bernard decides to go with Lenina to New Mexico, which is considered a Savage land, but is really a reservation of today's society but a little bit more ravage. People form World State travel there for entertainment. Once Bernard gets permission form the D.H.C., who reacted in a strange way to Bernard's request, He asks Lenina to go with him. When they get there Lenina goes right to the Soma so that she can enjoy it better. On one of their escapades into the reservation, Lenina leaves her Soma in their room and has to witness the reservation sober, which she does not like. They go to a ceremony where they meet a strange, but oddly attractive-to Lenina that is- man named John. He takes them back to his home where they meet someone called his "mother", his mother appalled Lenina. Her name is Linda, she is fat and lumpy, and she doesn't keep herself clean. Linda notices that these people are form World state and ask if they know Thomas, who is the D.H.C. and tells them that she came to the reservation with him got pregnant, besides the fact that she was wearing her belt, and had John. D.H.C. left her there before she was showing her pregnancy. She wanted desperately to go back to World State. Bernard realizes why D.H.C. was so reluctant to allow him to go to the Reservation, and decides to bring these two back with him to World State to black mail the D.H.C. Meanwhile John the Savage is falling in love with Lenina. Upon return to World State, Bernard brings Linda to the Decanting center and shows her to the D.H.C. and then he mysteriously disappears.Along with the Disappearance of Thomas, John the Savage becomes an instant hit with the people.Everybody in World State loves him.Bernard and Lenina become instantly famous.During one of Bernard’s many parties, at which John was the guest of honor, John decided not to show up, society rejects Bernard, and everything goes back to normal.John and Bernard have a friend names Hemholtz Watson, who teaches emotional engineering in the use of rhymes.John had found a copy of one of Shakespeare’s books and gave it to Hemholtz who was instantly enthralled. Meanwhile, John had fallen in love with Lenina, as Lenina had with John.But their loves for each other differed.John loved everything about her, but Lenina only told john she loved him so that he’d have sex with her, but when she tried to seduce him, he ran away, but returned to attack her and call her a whore. Linda was dying.The doctors at The Hospital for the Dying put her in a Soma induced coma, and when John got the call she was dying he ran to the Hospital, but Linda didn’t recognize him.Linda finally died and all John could do was weep.Children cam in for their death Conditioning so that they wouldn’t find death shocking or upsetting, only to see John crying.He was appalled that they weren’t reacting to death and left.On his way home he saw someone handing out Soma packets and decided to throw it all out the window with the help of Hemholtz.This caused a riot; Bernard went to get help from the Police.The police finally distributed the Soma to the workers.The police then take John, Bernard, and Hemholtz to Mustapha Mond. Mond tells them of why they must keep the bible and Shakespeare from them.Bernard and Hemholtz are exiled to separate islands, but John has to stay in World State to continue on with Bernard’s experiment. John seeks solitude and finds a Lighthouse.He makes a whip and repeatedly whips himself over and over.One day he kills himself and is found by a reporter one morning.
5. Family- there is no Family in World State, no Parents, and no Siblings.Every child is decanted and made scientifically through the use of donated eggs.
Love- love is virtually nonexistent in World State.People don’t fall in love with other people, they fall in love with the idea of having sex with said other person.
6. The future- everyone has a different idea of what the future will be like Different people- no matter what the norm of society is, there will always be different people inside of it.They could even be public officials, such as Hemholtz Watson and Mustapha Mond.
7- Critical essay (handed out in class) Beckham, Richard H. "Huxley's Brave New World as Social Irritant: Ban It or Buy It?." EXPLORING Novels. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center - Silver. Gale. Abington Sr High School. 28 Nov. 2009 <http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-2&docId=EJ2111200431&source=gale&srcprod=SRCC&userGroupName=abin93897&version=1.0>.
Madeline Bates - I don't know if I'm supposed to be posting this here....
1984, George Orwell
Airstrip One (aka London), 1984
Winston Smith: protagonist, Winston lives in bleak London, he is just old enough to remember what life was like before the government takeover, spends his time trying to spark a revolution against Big Brother- even if it only involves himself. Julia: beautiful woman who works at The Minstry of Truth in The Fiction Department, she and Winston begin an affair, she enjoys these small acts against the oppressive government. O'Brien: an established man from the Inner Party, Winston believes O'Brien is a member of the revolutionary group The Brotherhood. Mr. Charrington: runs a thrift store in which he rents a room to Winston, Winston and Julia carry on their affair there, Charrington turns out to be a member of the Thought Police. Emmanuel Goldstein: described as the most dangerous man in Oceania, a mythical figure who supposedly started The Brotherhood, he never appears in the novel. Big Brother: another character who never actually makes an appearance in the book, he rules Oceania, he is present everywhere, no one is sure whether or not he really exists.
1984 is a chilling premonition of a future world ruled by a totalitarian government which outlaws free thought, sex, or individuality. The Party (gov) controls every aspect of every citizen's life. Oceania is ruled with an iron fist, with people called the Thought Police who are rumored to be everywhere at all times. The Party also controls language and even world history with its three Ministries. The Ministry of Truth, The Ministry of Love, and The Ministry of War. The protagonist, Winston, is a member of the Outer Party and works at The Ministry of Truth. There he alters historical documents like newspapers at the whim of The Party. If an old newspaper said something that conflicts with what The Party is now claiming to be true, they either have men like Winston alter it or they destroy it. For instance, The Party claims that Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, but in the back of his mind Winston knows this is not true.
Winston meets Julia, a pretty woman also working at MOT, and one day she slips him a note that says "I love you." Winston rents an apartment from and old man named Mr. Charrington, so that he may begin a relationship with Julia. They continue their affair knowing that they could be arrested by the Thought Police at any time. Soon after this, Winston receives a message from O'Brien (a man from the Inner Party) saying that he wants to meet. Winston is convinced that this must mean O'Brien is a member of the legendary Brotherhood and wants Winston to join.
Winston and Julia both go to O'Brien's opulent apartment and meet him. He tells them he is indeed a member of The Brotherhood, and welcomes them by giving them a copy of Goldstein's book, the bible of The Brotherhood. Winston and Julia go back to the apartment and he reads passages of the book to her. Suddenly, soldiers storm through every window and door, and beat Winston and Julia to the ground. Mr. Charrington reveals that he is a member of the Thought Police- Winston and Julia are finally caught.
Taken to The Ministry of Love for torture and questioning, Winston and Julia face imprisonment or death. The man who enters Winston's prison cell to begin interrogation is familiar- it is O'Brien who also turned out the be a member of The Party all along. He tortures Winston for a couple of months before taking him to Room 101. Room 101 is reserved for those who are especially resistant to torture. All of the inmates whisper about the terrible things that happen in there. Winston mentions earlier that he has a terrible phobia of rats, and when he goes to Room 101 his fear is realized. A cage full of rats ready to eat his face are strapped to Winston's head, and he finally breaks. O'Brien screams at him that if only he gives up Julia, he'll be spared. Winston does, he tells O'Brien to put the rats on her instead. Broken, Winston is released. He passes Julia in the street but he doesn't even acknowledge her, he is now a patriotic member of society- completely devoted to Big Brother.
Symbols, Motifs
Memory- Winston tries to recall his childhood all throughout the novel. He buys a paperweight to try to remember his childhood, and it shatters when the Thought Police arrest him. Freedom- every human freedom that we know is stripped from the society of Big Brother. Winston spends all of his time just trying to gain some vestige of these freedoms back.
Themes
A powerful government is dangerous. Inherent rights should never be denied. History is not ours to change.
Literary Criticism
The Tendency of Man: Nineteen Eighty-Four by Oliver Substance
History repeats itself. Humans often perform the same actions repeatedly, because they are habitual beings. All humans have the same instincts, and their lives are based on how they control and manipulate them. Nineteen Eighty-Four is about how humans live in an abstract setting. Orwell uses this abstraction to show his prediction of a world allowed to continue its capitalistic trend. More specifically, he points out the major class differences. In Orwell's story, the Party's victory is absolute and its domination is unstoppable. Obviously, today's world has not reached this extreme like Nineteen Eighty-Four's world, but through such an extreme case, Orwell displays the values socialism and an undesirable outcome of capitalism. The main characters in Nineteen Eighty-Four are repressed and forced to work for the benefit of the Inner Party members. Inevitably, the members of the Outer Party feel restless and perform small acts of rebellion. Winston and Julia's acts are small and are quickly subdued. Their rebellion fails because their actions only benefit themselves and do not to help those around them. Their most meaningful act is their meeting with O'Brien, which, if O'Brien hadn't turned out to be a member of the Inner Party, might have led to more meaningful acts. In reality, Julia and Winston do not rebel; they only act differently when they think no one is looking. Winston tells Julia that she's "only a rebel from the waist downwards." This statement can be applied to many modern citizens, and shows that the world does not change because of meaningless, obstinate acts.Winston's statement is near-universal, because of the nature of people. In a capitalist society, it is natural for people to feel trapped and bored, and then want change. In Winston and Julia's case, they are rebelling because they feel suffocated by the system they live in. Every movement of theirs is watched and scrutinized. Even their thoughts are studied, completely removing their privacy. All members of the Outer Party are monitored like factory robots.
1. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
2. World State, used to be called London, five hundred year from now.
3. Lenina Crowne- main female character. Lenina is the women who goes with Bernard Marx to the Savage reservation.
Bernard Marx- outcast of the Alpha class. Takes Lenina to the Savage reservation. Bernard doesn't agree with all the ways of World State.
The Director Of Hatcheries and Conditioning- a.k.a D.H.C. Runs away after Linda returns to World State with Bernard Marx, Lenina, and her son John the Savage.
Linda- an ex-member of World State after she was left behind by D.H.C., she had a son, which is a horrible thing in World State, he happens to be the D.H.C's son as well. eventually dies.
John The Savage- son of Linda and D.H.C. becomes a star in World State when he returns. loves Lenina. Hates World State because of how shallow it is.
Mustapha Mond- This man decides what is good for society and what isn't. He also knows more about life before "his Fordship" than almost anyone. Exiles Bernard and Hemholtz
Hemholtz Watson- Friend of Bernard, and liked by John. Interested in Shakespeare for his knowledge in Emotions. Exiled with Bernard for thinking differently then the rest of World State.
4. The Novel starts out with D.H.C. describing the Hatchery, Decanting and Boskonofsky processes to Alpha students. The boys are taking avid notes on everything the Director says. Introduced next is Mustapha Mond, who seems to be magical to the students, they hang onto every word he says. Next is Lenina and her friend Fanny. Readers are then introduced to Bernard Marx. This man is not like most alphas; he is queer. He is shorter and uglier than most Alphas, looks more like a Delta than an Alpha, or even a Beta. Everyone thinks that during the Decanting process too much alcohol was put into his bottle in order to make him a little bit slower and less attractive than other Alphas. Lenina tells Fanny of her "relationship" of sorts (of course only a sexual relationship as apposed to an emotional one) which has been going on for a few months. Fanny tells Lenina that that relationship is wrong, and should stop instantaneously. Taking Fanny's advise, Lenina asks Bernard out on a date, and ends up taking Soma which is their legal drug. Lenina wants to have sex immediately, but Bernard says they shouldn't have sex on the first date.
The society of World state is very promiscuous. They have sex with many different partners and discuss it with everyone. The have a Legal intoxicating Drug that is used in Promotional purposes, for sex. There are regular Orgy-Porgy's where a large group of people take Soma, Praise their god Henry Ford, and Have an orgy.
Bernard decides to go with Lenina to New Mexico, which is considered a Savage land, but is really a reservation of today's society but a little bit more ravage. People form World State travel there for entertainment. Once Bernard gets permission form the D.H.C., who reacted in a strange way to Bernard's request, He asks Lenina to go with him. When they get there Lenina goes right to the Soma so that she can enjoy it better. On one of their escapades into the reservation, Lenina leaves her Soma in their room and has to witness the reservation sober, which she does not like. They go to a ceremony where they meet a strange, but oddly attractive-to Lenina that is- man named John. He takes them back to his home where they meet someone called his "mother", his mother appalled Lenina. Her name is Linda, she is fat and lumpy, and she doesn't keep herself clean. Linda notices that these people are form World state and ask if they know Thomas, who is the D.H.C. and tells them that she came to the reservation with him got pregnant, besides the fact that she was wearing her belt, and had John. D.H.C. left her there before she was showing her pregnancy. She wanted desperately to go back to World State. Bernard realizes why D.H.C. was so reluctant to allow him to go to the Reservation, and decides to bring these two back with him to World State to black mail the D.H.C. Meanwhile John the Savage is falling in love with Lenina. Upon return to World State, Bernard brings Linda to the Decanting center and shows her to the D.H.C. and then he mysteriously disappears. Along with the Disappearance of Thomas, John the Savage becomes an instant hit with the people. Everybody in World State loves him. Bernard and Lenina become instantly famous. During one of Bernard’s many parties, at which John was the guest of honor, John decided not to show up, society rejects Bernard, and everything goes back to normal. John and Bernard have a friend names Hemholtz Watson, who teaches emotional engineering in the use of rhymes. John had found a copy of one of Shakespeare’s books and gave it to Hemholtz who was instantly enthralled. Meanwhile, John had fallen in love with Lenina, as Lenina had with John. But their loves for each other differed. John loved everything about her, but Lenina only told john she loved him so that he’d have sex with her, but when she tried to seduce him, he ran away, but returned to attack her and call her a whore.
Linda was dying. The doctors at The Hospital for the Dying put her in a Soma induced coma, and when John got the call she was dying he ran to the Hospital, but Linda didn’t recognize him. Linda finally died and all John could do was weep. Children cam in for their death Conditioning so that they wouldn’t find death shocking or upsetting, only to see John crying. He was appalled that they weren’t reacting to death and left. On his way home he saw someone handing out Soma packets and decided to throw it all out the window with the help of Hemholtz. This caused a riot; Bernard went to get help from the Police. The police finally distributed the Soma to the workers. The police then take John, Bernard, and Hemholtz to Mustapha Mond. Mond tells them of why they must keep the bible and Shakespeare from them. Bernard and Hemholtz are exiled to separate islands, but John has to stay in World State to continue on with Bernard’s experiment. John seeks solitude and finds a Lighthouse. He makes a whip and repeatedly whips himself over and over. One day he kills himself and is found by a reporter one morning.
5. Family- there is no Family in World State, no Parents, and no Siblings. Every child is decanted and made scientifically through the use of donated eggs.
Love- love is virtually nonexistent in World State. People don’t fall in love with other people, they fall in love with the idea of having sex with said other person.
6. The future- everyone has a different idea of what the future will be like
Different people- no matter what the norm of society is, there will always be different people inside of it. They could even be public officials, such as Hemholtz Watson and Mustapha Mond.
7- Critical essay (handed out in class)
Beckham, Richard H. "Huxley's Brave New World as Social Irritant: Ban It or Buy It?." EXPLORING
Novels. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center - Silver. Gale. Abington Sr High School. 28 Nov. 2009 <http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=SRC-2&docId=EJ2111200431&source=gale&srcprod=SRCC&userGroupName=abin93897&version=1.0>.
Madeline Bates - I don't know if I'm supposed to be posting this here....
1984, George Orwell
Airstrip One (aka London), 1984
Winston Smith: protagonist, Winston lives in bleak London, he is just old enough to remember what life was like before the government takeover, spends his time trying to spark a revolution against Big Brother- even if it only involves himself. Julia: beautiful woman who works at The Minstry of Truth in The Fiction Department, she and Winston begin an affair, she enjoys these small acts against the oppressive government. O'Brien: an established man from the Inner Party, Winston believes O'Brien is a member of the revolutionary group The Brotherhood. Mr. Charrington: runs a thrift store in which he rents a room to Winston, Winston and Julia carry on their affair there, Charrington turns out to be a member of the Thought Police. Emmanuel Goldstein: described as the most dangerous man in Oceania, a mythical figure who supposedly started The Brotherhood, he never appears in the novel. Big Brother: another character who never actually makes an appearance in the book, he rules Oceania, he is present everywhere, no one is sure whether or not he really exists.
1984 is a chilling premonition of a future world ruled by a totalitarian government which outlaws free thought, sex, or individuality. The Party (gov) controls every aspect of every citizen's life. Oceania is ruled with an iron fist, with people called the Thought Police who are rumored to be everywhere at all times. The Party also controls language and even world history with its three Ministries. The Ministry of Truth, The Ministry of Love, and The Ministry of War. The protagonist, Winston, is a member of the Outer Party and works at The Ministry of Truth. There he alters historical documents like newspapers at the whim of The Party. If an old newspaper said something that conflicts with what The Party is now claiming to be true, they either have men like Winston alter it or they destroy it. For instance, The Party claims that Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, but in the back of his mind Winston knows this is not true.
Winston meets Julia, a pretty woman also working at MOT, and one day she slips him a note that says "I love you." Winston rents an apartment from and old man named Mr. Charrington, so that he may begin a relationship with Julia. They continue their affair knowing that they could be arrested by the Thought Police at any time. Soon after this, Winston receives a message from O'Brien (a man from the Inner Party) saying that he wants to meet. Winston is convinced that this must mean O'Brien is a member of the legendary Brotherhood and wants Winston to join.
Winston and Julia both go to O'Brien's opulent apartment and meet him. He tells them he is indeed a member of The Brotherhood, and welcomes them by giving them a copy of Goldstein's book, the bible of The Brotherhood. Winston and Julia go back to the apartment and he reads passages of the book to her. Suddenly, soldiers storm through every window and door, and beat Winston and Julia to the ground. Mr. Charrington reveals that he is a member of the Thought Police- Winston and Julia are finally caught.
Taken to The Ministry of Love for torture and questioning, Winston and Julia face imprisonment or death. The man who enters Winston's prison cell to begin interrogation is familiar- it is O'Brien who also turned out the be a member of The Party all along. He tortures Winston for a couple of months before taking him to Room 101. Room 101 is reserved for those who are especially resistant to torture. All of the inmates whisper about the terrible things that happen in there. Winston mentions earlier that he has a terrible phobia of rats, and when he goes to Room 101 his fear is realized. A cage full of rats ready to eat his face are strapped to Winston's head, and he finally breaks. O'Brien screams at him that if only he gives up Julia, he'll be spared. Winston does, he tells O'Brien to put the rats on her instead. Broken, Winston is released. He passes Julia in the street but he doesn't even acknowledge her, he is now a patriotic member of society- completely devoted to Big Brother.
Symbols, Motifs
Memory- Winston tries to recall his childhood all throughout the novel. He buys a paperweight to try to remember his childhood, and it shatters when the Thought Police arrest him. Freedom- every human freedom that we know is stripped from the society of Big Brother. Winston spends all of his time just trying to gain some vestige of these freedoms back.
Themes
A powerful government is dangerous. Inherent rights should never be denied. History is not ours to change.
Literary Criticism
The Tendency of Man: Nineteen Eighty-Four by Oliver Substance
History repeats itself. Humans often perform the same actions repeatedly, because they are habitual beings. All humans have the same instincts, and their lives are based on how they control and manipulate them. Nineteen Eighty-Four is about how humans live in an abstract setting. Orwell uses this abstraction to show his prediction of a world allowed to continue its capitalistic trend. More specifically, he points out the major class differences. In Orwell's story, the Party's victory is absolute and its domination is unstoppable. Obviously, today's world has not reached this extreme like Nineteen Eighty-Four's world, but through such an extreme case, Orwell displays the values socialism and an undesirable outcome of capitalism. The main characters in Nineteen Eighty-Four are repressed and forced to work for the benefit of the Inner Party members. Inevitably, the members of the Outer Party feel restless and perform small acts of rebellion. Winston and Julia's acts are small and are quickly subdued. Their rebellion fails because their actions only benefit themselves and do not to help those around them. Their most meaningful act is their meeting with O'Brien, which, if O'Brien hadn't turned out to be a member of the Inner Party, might have led to more meaningful acts. In reality, Julia and Winston do not rebel; they only act differently when they think no one is looking. Winston tells Julia that she's "only a rebel from the waist downwards." This statement can be applied to many modern citizens, and shows that the world does not change because of meaningless, obstinate acts.Winston's statement is near-universal, because of the nature of people. In a capitalist society, it is natural for people to feel trapped and bored, and then want change. In Winston and Julia's case, they are rebelling because they feel suffocated by the system they live in. Every movement of theirs is watched and scrutinized. Even their thoughts are studied, completely removing their privacy. All members of the Outer Party are monitored like factory robots.